New Cabinet Numbering on Code Lookup

I've noticed some new cabinets for my area in the latest code lookup database update.

The original cabinets enabled when exchange first got fibre were all numbered with "Cabinet P#" format.
In this latest updates the new cabinets are numbered "Cabinet E #".

Does anybody know how the E numbering format relates to the existing cabinets. i.e.
Are they completely new infill cabinets?
Are they "extensions" to existing cabinets going further out into rural areas?
Or does the E simply refer to Exchange bundles being reconfigured to go via an existing FTTC cab?

Edited by deleted (Sun 07-Feb-16 11:31:19)

Without knowing the exchange all that can say is some areas have always had PE1 type cabinets, or some places call them E1

This is in additional to EO line bundles that are often referred to as E_1 etc

Infill cabinets are not called E1 etc, infill cabinets are usually P1 or whatever number fits in the numbering scheme used in that exchange area

Its Alford Exchange, Aberdeenshire.
Exchange code NSALF, area telephone code 01975

It looks like the E refers to exchange bundle numbers. Perhaps its just an interim number/ident system until such time as they allocate P# numbers?

Looks more like a double entry for the various EO lines that are going to be upgraded. In our case, Vauxhall Exchange (WRVAUX), our Exchange Line bundle (E71) is currently being upgraded and our new all-in-one cab is listed as P54.

Your post made me check my locality (THBZ), and whilst I didn't see anything like you mention, I see there are now separate FTTC and FTTP columns, and a couple of cabinets have dates in both columns:

Cabinet P83 FTTP Available from 25th July 2013 Phase 10a 2013 FTTP from 18th December 2014 174 Huawei
Cabinet P101 FTTP Available from 14th February 2013 Phase 09b 2012-2013 FTTP from 1st March 2018 456 Huawei

As far as I know both were enabled for FTTC (not FTTP though Basingstoke is one of the original FTTP-on-demand available areas) on the 2013 dates in the first column. Any ideas on the significance of the date in the second column? Does it mean someone has ordered FoD - and there's a 2 year wait?!

101 is interesting as it's the closest cabinet to a new 400+ home development, where the show homes opened and first residents moved in around a week ago, but like many new developments, Openreach haven't yet finished connecting it. The houses have been wired with lots of CAT6, but only a copper "master socket", with copper dangling through the wall waiting for Openreach to arrive, so it's not yet clear what broadband technology (if any) will be available - though Virgin is at least also being installed (forecast of May for that to go live). Likely ASDL speeds there will be 2-3Mbits at best.

So wondering if the properties will get FTTP (nominally from 101) even though they've not really been built to receive it - or a new FTTC onesie - or something else.

How do all-fibre areas work, do they get a PCP number even though there doesn't need to be a (copper) PCP?

In reply to a post by MCM:

Looks more like a double entry for the various EO lines that are going to be upgraded.

I agree.

One of the areas that I kept track of a year ago was Leyburn, North Yorkshire. At the time, this originally had 9 cabinets - with a "P10" added for the trial FTTRN service.

When I look now, I can see a mix of terminology for changes to be made:
- Two new cabinets "P15" and "P16"; labelled "FTTC not available", but both have BDUK planning phases.
- Six new cabinets "E_nn", labelled in various "FTTC doing ..." states, and all with BDUK planning phases
- Two EO bundles "Exchange 2" and "Exchange 3"; labelled "FTTC not available" with no BDUK planning phases
- Six EO bundles "Exchange nn" (which match the "nn" in the six new cabinets above); labelled with the same "FTTC doing ..." states and BDUK phases as above too.

It looks like the "E_nn" cabinets are indeed placeholders for EO bundles. With two other new cabinets on this exchange, properly numbered but with inconsistent states, it looks like there isn't yet a clear policy.

Incidentally...
All the cabinets on the Leyburn exchange have been subsidised by the various "BDUK NYNET" partnership - some in the original "phase 1" and some in the ongoing "phase 2".

However, this exchange shows signs that the 3rd phase money has started to be planned too: the very latest of the 6 cabinets appear with a label of "BDUK NYNET Phase 2a 17b", compared to previous labels like "BDUK NYNET Phase 2 16b" and "Phase BDUK NYNET 10b".

That's the first time I have seen a "Phase 2a" label on any of the North Yorkshire exchanges.

It looks like duplicate entries in my area, too, although the mix of dates anf phases is confusing. They've got three entries for each cabinet with the new numbering added to it, for example:

Cabinet E_10 FTTC doing Design, live due by January 2017 Phase SEP Suffolk 17a
Cabinet P10 FTTC being Connected, live due by June 2016 Phase SEP Suffolk 15a

Those two are together, and then in the "Exchange" section (i.e. EO bundles or whatever you want to call them) there's another entry which I believe refers to the same cabinet:

Exchange 10 FTTC doing Design, live due by January 2017 Phase SEP Suffolk 17a

In this instance, the FTTC cabinet is actually there, although I know that doesn't mean it's connected at all. I suppose the newest dates refer to the newest status, i.e. it was planned to go live by June 2016 but they're behind schedule and still designing the EO rearrangement, and so the due date has slipped to 2017. Maybe codelook should remove the older entries to avoid confusion.

Edited by deleted (Thu 11-Feb-16 00:03:49)

That "Cabinet E_10 FTTC doing Design" if I am correct is an extra cabinet, so maybe the other one become full.

Paul

Cabinet E_10 FTTC doing Design, live due by January 2017 Phase SEP Suffolk 17a
and
Exchange 10 FTTC doing Design, live due by January 2017 Phase SEP Suffolk 17a

Are the same thing ,they're the duplicate entry. I suspect once the cabinet is live, "exchange 10" will cease to exist and a new cabinet number will replace both that and "E_10)

Cabinet P10 FTTC being Connected, live due by June 2016 Phase SEP Suffolk 15a is a standard cabinet which I suspect has been around for a long time.

E_% denotes an exchange only line bundle

Like the other replies, I think your P10 is totally separate from the other two entries. Presumably, when you say that "the FTTC cabinet is actually there" you mean the one for PCP 10, as an already-existing PCP.

The other two look like they refer to a bundle of Exchange Only (EO) lines known as "Exchange 10". This won't yet have a PCP at all, so can't have a corresponding PCP.

Codelook uses data from BT, so can't just remove entries. However, where copper re-arrangement happens - where PCP are created for EO lines, or where EO lines are moved into existing PCP cabinets - codelook does eventually get updated. But things end up looking confusing for a while.

Remember, however, that the BT database behind this has to both represent the existing, live network - showing how homes are connected *now* - as well as showing plans for the future. I don't think we can expect anything other than confusion while this process is going on - and we should expect it to be a core activity for the next 2 years.

Right now, I think codelook has a better picture of plans for EO lines than it has had for a while. However, I have a sneaky suspicion that it is missing postcodes from its list of "all postcodes" for an exchange ... and those postcodes are the ones where planning confusion lies.

In reply to a post by WWWombat:

Like the other replies, I think your P10 is totally separate from the other two entries. Presumably, when you say that "the FTTC cabinet is actually there" you mean the one for PCP 10, as an already-existing PCP.

Yup.

The other two look like they refer to a bundle of Exchange Only (EO) lines known as "Exchange 10". This won't yet have a PCP at all, so can't have a corresponding PCP.

I suppose I never considered that it was a coincidence (that they have the number 10 in common) really, which sounds really stupid when put like that. But it was because the whole exchange picture for mine (EAHAS) has been very confusing for the last 6 months or more... and it's turned out that they almost certainly duplicated "Exchange 17" and "Exchange 16" as "Cabinet 17" and "Cabinet 16". If all three are simply coincidence, then I'd be surprised. But, with the new numbering scheme, of course I don't know. Cabinets 16 and 17 were new PCPs, with their FTTC twins installed at the same time, outside the exchange for EO lines (and confirmed by an engineer I spoke to). But codelook must have confused the postcodes up for (some?) of the lines they serve, because it would mean that the copper VDSL2 runs would be literally a couple of miles.

Anyway, none of this is vital to me, but as I think you'll appreciate it's always good to know these things. Just explaining my assumptions.

Edited by deleted (Thu 11-Feb-16 22:55:51)